Easier Travel
Search

If you’ve ever tried to research a holiday, but weren’t really sure exactly where you wanted to
go or when, you’ll know how difficult regular travel company sites and travel search sites are to use. They always
insist on you filling out dates, times and destinations in pre-prepared menu’s. This isn’t easy (and feels very
restrictive) when your plans are more fluid.

Australian site, Adioso, has been set up to deal with this problem
by allowing site visitors to conduct flexible searches in natural language, rather than via menu. The site is
still in the early stages of development, but I mention it for two reasons:

If you have flexible travel plans this could become a ‘go-to’
sight in the near future.

The development of the site is evidence that there are still
undiscovered niches within, what on the surface appear to be, very mature online
markets.

Doggie
Doo-Rags

My daughter has a thing about bandanas and when I take our Jack
Russell, Bernard, for a walk in the mornings, he now wears what to me looks like a bright red and
white-spotted handkerchief around his neck. I’m not sure which of us feels more embarrassed.

But I’ve just been talking to someone in the US – where they call them ‘Doo-Rags’ – and, apparently, they make a
rather nice living making and selling these on eBay.

If you sew, you can choose to design and make them yourself; this could help you make 'designer' Doo-Rags and make
a good profit. You can also choose to buy these items pre-made through a wholesaler or directly from a
manufacturer. Interested? We can put a how-to feature together for you on request. Just don’t ask me to wear
one.

The
Osborne
Impact

Zoopla.co.uk has looked at the impact of the Comprehensive Spending
Review on expected property prices. They give 20 locations where property prices are expected to fall as a
result of public sector cuts and job losses etc.

The figures given represent; the percentage of the workforce employed in the public sector; the current average
property value; the expected percentage change in prices over the next three years.

Goodbye Dubai

A story from Dubai is a reminder and a warning of what can happen
when developers and investors rush to profit from a fast-moving market; think Bulgaria as was and Brazil as
is.

According to Nicholas Maclean, Middle East MD for CB Richard Ellis, Dubai has a huge oversupply of office buildings
because foreign buyers with no experience bought whole floors in off-plan offices which were badly built in poor
locations.

“Some buildings will be permanently vacant and will never be let because they are wrongly located, they are of poor
quality or have the wrong legal structure in place.”

Property investing overseas can be marvellous both in terms of lifestyle and investment buys. But, it has to be
said, speculative investing is not suited to the inexperienced and, of course, widows and
orphans.

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